Follow Us

South Korea to Stick With Paper Textbooks

South Korea has long been on the forefront of in every aspect of daily life, but it looks like that might change. The SK government recently announced plans to slow down adoption of digital textbooks and tablets in the classroom.

Last year South Korea started on a plan which would ultimately replace all textbooks with digital textbooks that students would read on tablets and PCs. Some teachers are objecting to the change they see in students behavior and study habits, and this has led to a plan for

Education leaders here worry that digital devices are too pervasive and that this young generation of tablet-carrying, smartphone-obsessed students might benefit from less exposure to gadgets, not more.Those concerns have caused South Korea to pin back the ambition of the project, which is in a trial stage at about 50 schools. Now, the full rollout won’t be a revolution: Classes will use digital textbooks alongside paper textbooks, not instead of them. First- and second-graders, government officials say, probably won’t use the gadgets at all.